There is a difficult balance when it comes to running an NBA team. On one hand, you’re dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars in payroll for your team owner, and with an on-the-floor rotation of nine or 10 players, every decision is critical and mistakes can be devastating. On the other hand, you’re dealing with people, and as such, emotions and egos must be handled lightly.

That was part of the problem that Thunder general manager Sam Presti faced in handling the situation of sixth man James Harden, who had developed into an All-Star and an Olympian even as he willingly sacrificed his own numbers for the better of the Western Conference champs. With Oklahoma City up against the luxury tax threshold—and determined not to cross that threshold, even with Harden due an extension and large deals already having been agreed to by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins—Presti’s margin for error was slim.

The Houston Rockets are thrilled to have James Harden, who averaged 35.3 points in his first three games. (AP Photo)

And the result was an especially tight window in which Harden could make a decision on the team’s four-year, $54 million offer of an extension. Harden has said he was sitting at dinner when he received a call from Presti, but he told Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski that he was given one hour to consider the Thunder’s deal, because there was a pressing need to get a deal done with the Rockets if Harden was going to pass, and the Rockets needed to know whether they could get Harden to sign on with them for the long term.

“After everything we established—everything we had done—you give me an hour?” Harden told Yahoo! “This was one of the biggest decisions of my life. I wanted to go home and pray about it. It hurt me. It hurt.”

Harden was traded to Houston on the Saturday before the season started, with the Thunder bringing back free-agent-to-be Kevin Martin and rookie Jeremy Lamb—Martin being the short-term replacement for Harden and Lamb the long-term solution. Harden signed a five-year, $80 million deal with Houston, considerably bigger than the four-year deal that OKC offered and bigger still than the max he could have gotten from the Thunder, which was four years and $60 million.

The fact Harden was available in that situation came as a surprise to the Rockets.

“Out of nowhere in terms of—there are conversations obviously,” Houston general manager Daryl Morey said. “Sam Presti does an unbelievable job for Oklahoma City, they knew that maybe things were not going to work out with James, so they talked, I think, with every team in the league, you know, in September to gauge interest. Things came together as they made a strategic decision to potentially trade him. I didn’t think they’d trade him, I think he is a great, great player. I think he is already playing at an All-Star level and is going to be a perennial All-Star and those players are rarely traded. So I thought, frankly, it was going to work out there.”

Instead, things have worked out nicely for the Rockets, who started 2-1 and have seen Harden come out blazing, winning Player of the Week for the Western Conference after he averaged 35.3 points on 52.9 percent shooting, with 6.3 assists. Harden won’t keep up that scoring pace, but he is showing that he can be the kind of centerpiece player the Rockets have sought since the pairing of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming petered out because of injuries.

The Thunder, meanwhile, have been out of sync in the early going. Martin has been productive, but in close situations in past years, it was Harden who would control the ball late in games, with point guard Russell Westbrook playing off the ball more. Harden is an excellent pick-and-roll player—that is not Martin’s game, and without Harden, the Thunder need to reconstruct their crunch-time offense.

What’s more, in the wake of Harden’s comments about his extension, the Thunder will have to do some talking with stars Durant and Westbrook, both of whom expressed confidence that Harden would be re-signed, and both of whom are disappointed he was not retained. The business end of the Harden deal can be explained, but on the personal side, it is clear there are still raw feelings.